The 2023 Rugby World Cup has started, and we have already witnessed France vs. New Zealand, Italy vs. Namibia, Ireland vs. Romania, Australia vs. Georgia, England vs. Argentina, Japan vs. Chile, South Africa vs. Scotland, and Wales vs. Fiji. It’s been full of blood, sweat, and tears; and that’s just from the fans!

If this is your first Rugby World Cup, or at the very least, the first time you’ve seen rugby, then firstly, congratulations and welcome to the club. Secondly, if you have observational skills like the Question, you would have noticed the players’ jerseys; namely the numbers on their backs.

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Just like any team sport that requires players to wear numbers, their number denotes their position. And rugby has some pretty messed up positions. There are 15 (1-15) players in a team, with another 8 (16-23) as reserves, so 23 in total.

So what I’m going to do today, is try and explain what these positions mean and what the player’s job is during the game. Because I’m a New Zealander, I’ll use Kiwi terminology, but I’ll add other names for positions that other countries use as well. Also, the person that gets the honour of wearing the number 8 jersey, has the greatest positional name in rugby, and maybe in all of sport.

The Positional Numbers

1.) Loose-head prop

2.) Hooker

3.) Tight-head prop

4.) Lock (Second row)

5.) Lock (Second row)

6.) Blind-side flanker

7.) Open-side flanker

8.) No. 8

9.) Half back (Scrum half)

10.) First Five (Fly half, First 5/8)

11.) Left wing

12.) Second Five (Inside Centre, Second 5/8)

13.) Centre (Outside Centre)

14.) Right wing

15.) Full back

Job done then, right? Great Caesar’s Ghost, the answer is no!

The team can be divided into two groups: forwards (1-8) and backs (9-15). There is no better way to illustrate the differences between the two groups, than when there is a scrum or a line-out. All of the forwards are packed together into a scrum, or standing in a line behind each other for a line out. The backs on the other hand, will be standing side by side, stretched out across the field when either a scrum or a line out is taking place.

Rugby is a sport where all body types can be used and celebrated. This is because each position needs a specialised player with a particular body type and skills. Traditionally, forwards are larger but slower players, while backs are usually smaller, but faster.

Alright then, what’s special about the positions?

Explaining the Positions:

Front Row (Props and Hooker/Numbers 1-3)

Body type in the community:

This is easy. The best way to describe what body types props and hookers would have, would be a bouncer. You know the type, their arms and legs are the same size; they’re born without a neck; they can bench press a small car; and they won’t take any shit from anybody.

What‘s a prop’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

Their job is to “prop” up the scrum, support the hooker, and add lift to the line-out jumpers.

Informal answer:

Their job is to be a human bulldozer and to take as many defenders down as they can. They are also experts in the dark arts.

What‘s a hooker’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

Their job is to “hook” the ball with their legs during a scrum and to throw the ball in at the line-out.

Informal answer:

Their job is to be an extremely niggly player, that acts like they’re a saint, but they’re actually the devil in disguise. If the referee pulls them up for a penalty, the hooker will deny it; even with 20 m wide screens, showing them committing the crime.

Second Row (Locks/Numbers 4-5)

Body type in the community:

Locks would have the body type of basketball players: tall and muscular. However, the difference here would be instead of bouncing a ball on a court, these people have declared that they would rather suffer cauliflower ears, head trauma, broken bones, or torn ligaments than play basketball.

What‘s a lock’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

A lock’s job is to form the second row in the scrum, receive the ball from the kick-off, and be a primary jumper at the line-out.

Informal answer:

Their job is to have the best shoplifting hands on the field, to be lectured by referees half their size, and to be at the bottom of every ruck and maul.

Loose Forwards (Flankers and No. 8/Numbers 6-8)

Body type in the community:

Do you remember how members of the front row would be described as bouncers? Well if they’re the bouncers, then the loose forwards would be the crazy, tough idiots starting fights in the bar/club or in the line outside.

What‘s a loose forward’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

A loose forward has several jobs like being a secondary jumper at the line-out, supporting the ball carrier around the ruck, giving protection at the breakdown, and searching for the ball.

Informal answer:

There have been many epic quests throughout pop culture, like Frodo and Sam’s mission to destroy the One Ring at Mt. Doom, Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones, Ahab’s obsession with Moby Dick, Darkseid searching for the Anti-Life Equation, Ang to master bending of all four elements, and Andy Stitzer’s quest to lose his virginity.

But they all pale in comparison to a loose forward’s mission to hunt and find the rugby ball. They are lunatics, running around searching for the ball during tackles and breakdowns. They are either off their medication or need to be on some, because they are single-minded in their conviction to find and secure the ball for their team.

Half back (Number 9)

Body type in the community:

Picture any group of people working in sales with various body sizes. The half back would be the smallest of them; toned, small, quick, and very talkative.

What‘s a half back’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

Like a hooker, the half back is a singular specialised player. Their job is to be the link between the forwards and the backs; to feed the ball into the scrum; to receive the ball from the line-out; and to gather the ball at breakdowns, to either pass or kick it.

Informal answer:

The half back’s job is to yell at everybody and to tell them where they need to be. Half backs are also well versed in rugby laws since they are always telling the referee what to do. They love pointing out the illegal things the opposition is doing to the referee, as well as convincing the referee that the illegal things their own team is doing are perfectly legal.

Inside Backs (First Five, Second Five, and Centre/Numbers 10, 12, 13)

Body type in the community:

These players are usually attractive, decisive, fast, and agile. You’ll see them at the gym working out and looking fabulous. They are the ones posing during photo shoots for underwear adverts.

What‘s a First Five’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

When the First Five receives the ball, they will either run, pass, or kick it. If they kick the ball, they need to decide if they are kicking for territory, forcing the other team to kick the ball out, forcing the other team to make a mistake, or setting up a scoring situation. They are usually the player that kicks the goals.

Informal answer:

Their job is to crush the opposition by doing three things: kicking penalty goals and conversions from anywhere on the field, landing drop goals, and forcing the opposition back 50-80 m through territory kicks. If a First Five is constantly doing this in a game, it is soul-destroying for the other team.

What‘s a Second Five and Centre’s job in a rugby game?

Formal answer:

Their job is to support the First Five, create line breaks, kick for territory, supply cover defence, and to follow set pieces.

Informal answer:

When done correctly, the deadly partnership of the Second Five and Centre can bust open teams; but also crazy enough to act like loose forwards at the breakdown. Their job is to make the game a living hell for the opposition’s back line. They’re very clever, fast, and dangerous; but still look like a model as they do it.

Outside Backs (Wingers and Full back/Numbers 11, 14, 15)

Body type in the community:

These players will look like inside backs, except for one difference; their speed. These players are generally the fastest on the field, so look for people who like working out, but also sprinting. Outside backs are also great dancers, because of the work they do to evade being tackled.

Formal answer:

These players need to be able to catch the high ball, but also chase it. They need to be strong enough to fend off tacklers, but also to tackle around the waist and legs. Outside backs are try-scoring machines because of their speed.

Informal answer:

These players love to humiliate teams by evading tackles, applying the side step, outrunning or chasing someone down, producing try-saving tackles, but mainly by scoring a huge amount of tries.

What’s your favourite or least favourite rugby position? As always, please let me know.

I hope these blogs are coherent enough for you to be interested in the Rugby World Cup. If it has, I’ll congratulate myself with some Salt and Vinegar chips. If not, I’ll schedule a meeting with the writing team.

Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. I’m also on Twitter and Mastodon, where I post about things that I think are quite cool. Maybe.

Please don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, watch some Rugby World Cup games, and I’ll see you next week for our next stop on the Tour of the Solar System. Good times.

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The 2023 Rugby World Cup begins in under a week and for thousands of people, this will be their first Rugby World Cup. Whether it’s watching them in the comfort of your own home, your friend’s house, or a bar, or maybe you’re going to be attending some games; it’s going to be someone’s first Rugby World Cup, or at the very least, it could their first rugby game.

Rugby can be a truly mental and angry sport to follow to the uninitiated. Points are scored every which way, and it can be confusing to begin with, like which indictment Trump should be focusing on first. However, the way points are scored in rugby can be explained. So to help you understand what you’re looking at during the Rugby World Cup, here is a very quick guide to the points system.

Before I begin, I’m only explaining how to score points, what the points mean, and their value.

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The value of points scored in a game comes in the form of 5 points (try), 2 points (conversion), 7 points (penalty try), and 3 points (penalty or drop goal).

5 points for a try

Scoring a try in rugby means your team is awarded 5 points. A try is similar to a touchdown in the NFL, except for some subtle differences.

To score a try, a player must place the ball on the opposition’s try line or beyond it. The “try zone” consists of a strip of grass in the form of a rectangle, that starts at the try line, with the parallel line being the “dead-ball” line. The two other lines of the rectangle are the touch/sidelines (out of bounds).

If the ball is placed before the try line, it’s not a try; just the same as if the ball is placed after the dead-ball line, it’s not a try. The ball just has to be placed in between them. To place the ball down, a player either can walk, jump, or run across the line and place the ball down, or simply be lying on the ground and stretch out with their hand, with the ball in it.

With the grounding, you can either do it with one hand or two. It doesn’t matter what you do, and this is important, so long as you have control of the ball and apply downward pressure on it. Even if you’re across the line, you must have control of the ball and be able to force the ball on the ground.

The TMO (Television Match Official) can be called upon by the referee to check the grounding of the ball, in case the ball was lost forward, if there was no grounding, or if another player placed their hand between the ball and the ground; thus preventing the grounding, then the try would not be given.

But if the referee and TMO are happy with the grounding, then your team is awarded 5 points.

I do need to point out, that even if you place the ball legally over the line, you may not be awarded the try, if someone in your team did something illegal, leading up to the try. Rugby is a cold sport.

Here are some examples of players scoring tries:

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2 points for a conversion

Of all of the points to be discussed, this is the easiest. After your team scores a try, you have the chance to score an additional 2 points for a conversion. When your team’s try has been confirmed, the goal-kicker; traditionally the first five/fly half (player with 10 on their back) or the fullback (player with 15 on their back), will attempt to kick the ball between the posts and over the crossbar.

The kicker must kick the ball from the ground when the ball is placed on either a plastic tee or a pile of sand, or in the form of a drop kick.¹ The place where the conversion attempt must be taken, is perpendicular to where the try was awarded. Basically what this means is that the closer you score the try to the posts, the easier the conversion is for the kicker. The further the try is scored away from the posts, the more challenging the kick is for the kicker.

The kicker is given one minute to complete the kick, and if the kick is successful; as in the ball passes in between the posts and over the crossover, your team receives 2 more points. If the kick misses the posts, no extra points are awarded.

Here’s a video showing examples of conversions:

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7 points for a penalty try (try + conversion)

A penalty try is rare to witness, but they do happen. A penalty try is awarded to the attacking team, if the referee thinks the defending team has prevented a try from being scored through illegal methods. If the try was going to be probably scored, without the illegal actions of the defending team, then the referee would do three things:

1.) Confirm the penalty try under the posts.

2.) Award the attacking team an automatic 7 points, which equates to a try and conversion (5+2=7).

3.) Punish the offending player by showing them a yellow card (the player is sin-binned, so they are sent off for 10 minutes before coming back to the game) or a red card (the player is sent off for the rest of the game. They do not get to come back).

Here are some examples of penalty tries:

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3 points for a penalty goal

Since rugby has so many laws and rules, it’s extremely easy to break any number of them. As an ex-player, I really can confirm this. From not releasing the ball, not rolling away after the tackle, hands in the ruck, committing an illegal tackle, to a scrum collapse, and so many more, the referee can and will punish any player and team, in the form of a penalty.

If the referee awards a penalty to a team, within a kickable distance to their posts, they are allowed an attempt to kick a penalty goal. It’s the same routine as a conversion, apart from three differences:

1.) With a conversion attempt, players from the defending team are allowed to run at the kicker, as soon as they start moving, so they can block the ball. With a penalty goal attempt, the defending players are not allowed to move.

2.) Where the infringement took place, is where the penalty goal is attempted; if it’s in a kickable distance to the posts.

3.) If the ball passes between the posts and over the crossbar, 3 points instead of 2, are awarded to the attacking team.

Here’s a video showing examples of penalty goals:

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3 points for a drop goal

Drop goals are an easy and effective way to score 3 points for your team, and considering the Rugby World Cup is nearly upon us, you’ll see a lot of them.

To score a drop goal, you need to drop kick the ball. This involves dropping the ball onto the ground, and as it bounces up, you kick it. And just like the conversion and penalty goals, the ball must pass between the posts and over the crossbar to be awarded 3 points.

The drop goal is traditionally used; but only always, if the score is tied, or a team is only 1-2 points ahead or behind. Like I said before, drop goals will be used a lot in the knock-out games at the World Cup, because it won’t happen if a team wins by 1 point or 10; as long as they can stay alive and win. So believe me, a lot of drop goals will be used.

Here’s a video showing examples of drop goals in Rugby World Cup Finals:

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Does the scoring system make sense? Does this make you want to watch some rugby games? As always, please let me know.

That’s it for another week. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Please don’t forget to walk your dog; read a banned book; avoid licking windows, and I’ll see you next week.

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¹ Don’t panic, I’ll explain what a drop kick is very soon. It’s also a term for an idiot or loser!